The present invention relates to a rack cabinet for mounting electronic devices therein.
Rack cabinets are commonly used to mount, secure, and house electronic devices, such as computer hardware. For example, computer servers, data storage devices, monitors, keyboards, and other electronic devices are commonly disposed in rack cabinets to permit such devices to be efficiently housed. Indeed, rack cabinets are particularly useful in applications where it is desirable, or necessary, to store multiple pieces of computer hardware equipment in a relatively small space. Rack cabinets generally save space, centralize resources, simplify service, simplify maintenance, and help organize a computing environment.
In a conventional rack cabinet, the various electronic devices, often referred to collectively as xe2x80x9crack mount equipment,xe2x80x9d are mounted within the rack cabinet in vertical relationship to one another, thus conserving valuable floor space. To further conserve floor space, it is often desirable to position multiple rack cabinets adjacent to one another in side-by-side fashion in order to provide a large amount of electronic device storage space while efficiently using available floor space.
Conventional rack cabinets are typically formed of welded members, such as sheet metal members, that comprise the rack. Welding is generally considered a specialized skill in the sheet metal industry, and requires a relatively skilled worker (i.e., a welder) to weld together the various rack cabinet members, thus increasing the cost associated with manufacturing such a rack cabinet. In addition, rack cabinets also typically require the use of fixtures during the welding process to maintain the proper relative positions, or alignment, of the various members while the members are being welded together. In particular, the fixtures are commonly needed to maintain base and rail members oriented perpendicular to each other during the welding operation. Use of such fixtures also adds time, and thus cost, to the assembly of such welded cabinets.
Welded rack cabinets are also usually difficult, or impossible, to rework if a defect, such as an assembly defect, is discovered after the rack cabinet is welded. Indeed, welded rack cabinets are not easily disassembled without destroying one or more rack cabinet members. Hence, welded rack cabinets are typically scrapped in their entirety where defects in such rack cabinets are discovered after the welding process is complete. Such scrapping of defective rack cabinets adds a cost of scrapped material for defective rack cabinets.
In addition, it is frequently desirable to increase the number of rack cabinets that can be arranged in side-by-side fashion in a given floor space, while maintaining a standard width for the inside of the rack cabinet. Thus, the more narrow the rack cabinets, the more rack cabinets may be positioned next to one another in a given area. However, conventional attempts to provide a narrow rack cabinet having a standard inside width have failed to produce a rack cabinet that is both narrow and highly rigid. Indeed, prior attempts to provide narrow rack cabinets have resulted in rack cabinets having low lateral rigidity.
Standards for rack cabinets are set forth by EIA (Electronic Industries Alliance) and IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission). In particular, the EIA-310 and IEC-297 standards relate to rack cabinets and are incorporated herein by reference.
Accordingly, a need exists for a rack cabinet that may be inexpensively manufactured. Another need exists for a rack cabinet that is narrow. Yet another need exists for a rack cabinet that has high lateral rigidity. An additional need exists for a rack cabinet that may be readily reworked.
A rack cabinet and a method for making such a rack cabinet are provided. In one embodiment, the rack cabinet includes a base member having alignment pins extending therefrom and brackets having alignment holes, which mate with the alignment pins. Rails are secured to the brackets such that the rails are in proper, such as perpendicular, alignment with the base member. The brackets may be, for example, L-shaped or U-shaped brackets and provide structural strength and lateral rigidity to the rack cabinet in addition to properly aligning the rails relative to the base member. A top member may also be secured to the rails in a similar fashion.
Holes are formed in the rails to permit electronic devices, such as rack mount computer hardware, to be mounted within the cabinet between the rails. Fasteners are used to secure the electronic devices to the holes formed in the rails.
Fasteners may also be used to secure each bracket to the base member via corresponding holes formed in the bracket and the base member. Such fasteners may also be used to secure the rails to the corresponding brackets via corresponding holes formed in the bracket and the rails. Securing the brackets to the base member and to the rails using fasteners avoids the use of welding and the associated fixturing in assembling the rack cabinet, thus eliminating the need for welding the rails to the base member.
Accordingly, a rack cabinet is provided that is narrow and that has high lateral rigidity. In addition, the rack cabinet is inexpensive to manufacture and assemble due to not requiring welding or the associated fixturing. Moreover, the present rack cabinet may be readily reworked, or disassembled, by removing the various fasteners and brackets.
The present invention is best understood by reference to the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.